Marching On
by dreamsandbeyond
Summary: A female super solider becomes lost in time. How does she cope when presented with her predecessor, Steve Rogers, the man who started it all? Can she handle her inner war while a real one rages on across Europe?
1. Girl on a Mission

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Birds were chirping and her head was killing her. She squinted up at the light coming through the canopy of the trees.

Things had gone wrong very quickly. The last thing she remembered was an explosion taking place which would explain her waking up on the forest floor more than a bit disoriented and confused. She slowly sat up and looked around here. Immediately, she noticed she was not in the same location as to where she had been when the blast had hit.

It was starting to seem like she had bitten off more than she could chew with this mission. Part of her task was to monitor a group of highly destructive terrorists; terrorists that seemed to be nowhere in sight along with their building of operations. The most disturbing fact was that none of the intel that she had been gathering over the past few days had led her to believe that they were building a bomb of any sort.

Given that she had ended up in a completely different location than where she started and the fact that she hadn't been too close to the origin point of the detonation, she guessed that the explosion had affected a large area. Although looking around the area she was in, it didn't look like a large explosion had washed through it. It was another startling fact that was starting to cause more than a small amount of concern to build within her. She didn't like how things weren't adding up.

She shook off all the questions that were beginning to form in her mind. She had to focus. The best thing for her to do now was get into contact with her contractors and regroup. Currently, she was in a forest in the middle of nowhere. She needed to get to civilization if she wanted to have any hope of salvaging the situation. Before she could do that however, she needed to assess her condition.

It was fortunate that she had survived with relatively minor injuries. Taking full survey of herself, she had a few scrapes along with what seemed to be a sprained left wrist. She didn't have much on her in terms of medical supplies given that she had been hit by the blast on her way back to her camp so she was going to have to make do with her untreated cuts and wrist. Luckily, the few items she did have in her backpack had survived and remained relatively undamaged. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for her wireless signal.

For whatever reason, she couldn't connect to the proper satellites and get her navigation and other software online. She humphed and fiddled with them for a little bit before deciding that it was a lost cause. Whatever was the matter would take far too long to figure out with what she had at her disposal.

She slowly got up off the ground and gathered her things, brushing dirt and debris from her clothes as she went. It was time to get moving, she didn't have time to waste. As always with missions like these, she brought paper maps and a compass just in case her GPS fell through. The problem was she had no idea where she was. The best she could do was estimate based on where she had made her camp and where the site of interest was. That would have to be good enough for now. According to the map, the closet town was twenty miles to the west.

She signed as she looked up the sky. She estimated that it was about one o'clock in the afternoon. She would have to move at a brisk pace if she wanted to get anywhere by nightfall. Of course, even if she moved fast it would depend on if she was going in the right direction. She snorted. Standing around debating and worrying about things she had no control over weren't going to get her to her destination. 'It's gonna be a long twenty miles,' she thought as she moved out towards the western direction.

Two hours later and her situation hadn't changed. She was walking on the blind hope that she wasn't too far off where she had estimated. If worse came to worst, she would just end up walking in the western direction for another day or until she found some type of landmark, preferably a river. She knew how to survive in the wilderness with limited resources so that wouldn't be a problem. Truly, her issue was that she needed to report what had happened ASAP. She had checked her wireless signal a few more times but with no luck. Things were starting to get irritating, but she didn't have many options. So she kept on walking, making sure to keep on alert in case there was something unfriendly out there.

Another hour went by before her ears picked up the telltale signs of a vehicle. Maybe her luck was turning around, she thought as she rushed towards the sound. It sounded like they were moving pretty fast. She broke through the trees onto a path that looked like it was used only every hundred years or so. Calling it a road would be a bit too generous.

She looked down the path to see two old jeeps driving towards her about a little less than a mile out. She frowned as she waved them down. The build of the jeeps suggested that they were quite old although they looked to be in somewhat good condition. That sent a small alarm bell off in her head. As they got closer, she could see that there were seven men between both vehicles. It a bit unexpected to see a group of people all the way out here, but perhaps they were returning from a hunting trip of some sort. Hopefully, she could hitch hike a ride with them to the nearest town without too much trouble.

Her plans went to hell as soon as the first jeep pulled up.

The man riding shot gun in the first jeep immediately stood up and aimed a handgun at her head.

"Who are you?" he asked. She blinked as she slowly brought her hands up in the air. This just wasn't her day it seemed. She took a minute to look at all of the men between the two jeeps. One thing that struck her immediately was what they were wearing. They all seemed to have some type of U.S. army uniform on although they were severely outdated. That much she was sure of. One of the other men in the second jeep had on a well-worn Captain American costume. That alone was very strange without even taking into consideration what the others were wearing. The other thing she found odd was that the man pointing a gun at her had a Brooklyn accent. They were in the middle of the Belgium wilderness.

What the hell was going on here?

"I'm just trying to get to the nearest city. I'm a bit lost." She kept her voice calm and low. She also tried to make herself look as non-threatening as possible. The other men were all looking at her intently, some with looks of disbelief on their face as she answered. The small alarms that had been ringing in her head had turned into full on dread. What she thought had been her luck turning around had in fact been just the icing on the cake for a botched mission.

"Lost?" He said, sounding incredulous. "Look lady, I don't know who you think you're fooling with that line, but it sure ain't me. Now, who are you and what are you doing out here?" His tone got colder with the last question. He was outright glaring at her and the gun was kept level with her head. If she wasn't worried before, now would be the time to start worrying.

'What the hell have I gotten myself into', she thought as her frown turned even sterner and her body tensed for a fight. Her instincts were screaming at her that things were about to get ugly.

She just hoped she got out of this without any bullet holes.


	2. Wrong

The mission objective was simple; retrieve one of the devices that Hydra was using to power their advanced weaponry. The actual execution of the mission wasn't that difficult either. Based on their intelligence, Hydra was transporting the device from one facility to another. All they had to do was intercept the escort and high tail it back to base.

So far, the mission had been successful. After securing the item, they sped out to their rendezvous point. Everything was running smoothly and in a few hours they would be at the port from which they would 'ferry' over to England.

The mission had been going so well that Bucky wasn't the least bit surprised when a wrench was thrown into their plans.

As they sped down a barely used road, a colored woman had stepped in their path. No exactly the wrench Bucky had been expecting.

As their vehicles approached her, Bucky gripped his handgun, ready to fire at a moment's notice. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through him again. Whatever kind of a trap this was, he was ready. He gave a signal to Steve, who was in the second jeep, to let him know that he would take point on this.

It was extremely likely that she was a Hydra agent in disguise. It made sense, in way. A colored woman was the last person they would suspect to work for Hydra. They probably gave her a really good backstory to explain her presence in the forest in Belgium. However, the real question was, how did she find them. They had chosen this particular route for how little it was used and their attack on the envoy had been only hours ago, hardly enough time for Hydra to plan what looked to be an elaborate trap. Although he didn't let it show, the fact that Hydra had whipped up a trap so quickly had unnerved him deeply.

He became even more unnerved once he had her at gun point.

"Lost," Bucky repeated.

Who in their right minds would buy that? What looked to be an American black woman was somehow lost in the middle of a warzone, thousands of miles away from home.

They even had her, most likely a him, in ridiculous clothes.

Instead of a dress, she was wearing black pants and black shirt with black combat boots. She also had a small pack strapped to her back.

Something was off about this and Bucky didn't like it one bit. He tensed up even more and kept his gun steady as he let her know he wasn't buying her bullshit. Dugan and Morita who were in the jeep with him kept glancing around looking for any other signs of life while Bucky waited on her response.

He was beginning to suspect that perhaps they had caught her off guard. Hydra must have been planning on sending her in but at a different location. It might be why her story wasn't straight, but then why leave her out in the wilderness by herself without the proper directions. Bucky just couldn't put his finger on it.

One thing he had to give her was that she was calm. Of course, it was also another mark against her. No dame would be calm in a situation like this. Honestly, Hydra couldn't train their agents worth a damn.

She took a breath.

"My name is Naomi. Like I said, I am lost. I took a hit to the head and woke up a few miles from here. I'm just trying to get to nearest city." While her name definitely wasn't Naomi, the rest of the story was real. She had hit her head and she did just wake a few miles from here. She wasn't the best of liars by a long shot, but she could twist the truth to her benefit.

Bucky took a closer look at her, noting that she did indeed have a nice sized cut on side of her head. It looked like the blood had been hastily wiped, but the cut hadn't been properly attended to. It could also be fake, Bucky thought, thinking back to when the Red Skull had taken his face off. Anything was possible.

The clock was running down, she could sense it. They either going to shoot her or let her go.

"Please." She looked imploringly at Bucky. Begging wasn't her style no matter the circumstances so this was as close as she could get. She added a little quiver in her voice to try and make it more believable but she wasn't sure how successful it was. The way it was looking, he would most likely fire on her. The best she could do was rely on her reflexes and speed to get her back into the cover of the trees. From there she would use the foliage for concealment, it was almost night. Hopefully, she would take out one or two of them while she was making a run for the forest.

She kept her eyes on Bucky's gun, timing was everything.

"Alright."

She almost started at the deep voice. While she had heard someone approaching on her left, she hadn't taken her eyes off the gun in front of her. The man holding the gun glanced to his right, a bit of confusion playing on his face.

While Steve was wary, he figured that it was worth a shot bringing her in. This trap had been poorly planned on Hydra's part which might be a signal of their desperation. Better yet, it was possible for them to turn Hydra's slip up into their favor. If it was indeed a Hydra trap, then they could possibly use this to gain some information. If it amazingly wasn't, then they would see this woman to safety.

Steve nodded at Bucky who slowly lowered his gun. Naomi still kept her eyes on him even as Steve approached her with caution.

"We are going to take you in, ma'am." Steve thought it was best to keep up with pretenses at this point given Hydra agents' penchant for suicide.

Naomi finally turned her attention over to Steve. "Take me in where?" She fully expected to have been shot at my now, but she's not going to get her hopes up, not the way things have been going lately.

"To base." Steve said, keeping his answers short. He tilted his head at Bucky who jumped out of the jeep.

"Base?" Ok, these guys were lunatics. What base were they talking about? She didn't want to push her luck seeing as they just took the gun out of her face, but she didn't like the way things were sounding. "I just want to get to the nearest city." She reminded them.

"The nearest town is taken over with Germans. Not to be rude, but I don't think you would be much of a hit there. No matter how you slice it, you need to come back with us. We can get you to safety." Bucky interjected as he played along with Steve.

"What kind of Germans?" She asked slowly. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark and she didn't like it one bit.

"The kind that wear swastikas," Steve informed her as he had a looked at her, baffled. The war had been going on for years. Hydra agent or not, why was she playing stupid about the war? What is the point of that, Steve pondered.

Naomi inhaled sharply as she narrowed her eyes in thought. Had there been some kind of civil war involving Neo- Nazis while she had been out here playing Man vs Wild? Although she hadn't checked in with her contacts in three days and it was certainly in the realm of possibilities, it also was a bit far-fetched. It also still bothered her that they were wearing World War II and Captain America costumes, especially given what they had just said. What were they playing at?

While she could certainly stick to her original plan of taking cover in the trees and taking them out with simple guerilla warfare tactics, her instincts were screaming at her that something wasn't right. It hadn't been right since she woke up a few hours ago. She could feel it. Besides, these men were already on high alert with her which would make it all the more difficult. Of course, if they got her to whatever base they were speaking of, then it could be game over. She had choices, but they were limited.

It looks like she was going to have to enter the belly of the beast.

"How far is this base?" Naomi asked as Bucky ushered her into the backseat of the jeep, Steve keeping a steady eye on them. Morita moved into the passenger seat as Bucky joined her in the back. He made sure to brandish his gun while doing it. "You make any sudden movements, sweetheart, and it's lights out." The look he gave her was enough to let her know he meant business.

"I thought you said the Germans were the ones to worry about." Naomi lifted her chin in a somewhat stupidly brazen act. She told herself that she was testing the boundaries.

Bucky smirked at her. "Can never be too careful."

Once they were settled, Steve got into the other jeep and they moved out.


End file.
